SUGAR-CANE CULTURE FOR SIRUP PRODUCTION. 11 
so-called hammock lands and with the rolling lands farther from 
the coast, or with the delta lands near the rivers, where a consider- 
able percentage of fine silt and clay is mixed with the sand, making a 
good loam or clay-loam soil. Too heavy a clay is likewise not well 
adapted for sugar-cane production, because it is practically impossi- 
ble to keep it in good tilth. Thus, along the lower Mississippi River 
and the various bayous in Louisiana, the lands immediately adjacent 
to the streams are usually well adapted to sugar-cane production. 
These lands were formed by the sediment first deposited on occa- 
sions when these streams, during past ages, overflowed their banks, 
and they contain therefore much of the coarser silts and some sand. 
The land of the swamps lying farther back from these streams is 
composed almost entirely of a heavy clay, which is difficult to get in 
good tilth and is thus poorly adapted to cane culture. The condi- 
tions are vastly better if this clay has much vegetable mold or humus 
in it. In that event, provided the land is properly drained, good 
crops of cane can be grown so long as this supply of humus lasts. 
The muck soils, provided they have a high mineral content, will 
produce big yields of cane if well drained. With muck land that is 
very low in mineral content or with peat land, it is doubtful whether 
it can be used successf ully for sugar-cane production even if drained. 
A disadvantage with muck land is that it affords such poor anchorage 
for the cane roots that the cane very easily lodges, and this gives a 
tangled mat of stalks instead of relatively erect rows. In Georgia 
it is commonly reported that the rich dark soils along the edge of 
swamps, while producing high yields of cane, exert a deleterious 
effect upon the color, clearness, and flavor of sirup made therefrom. 
The farmers there, in consideration of the quality of sirup, prefer the 
lighter colored, loamy upland soils, suitably enriched with com- 
mercial manures, especially cottonseed meal. . 
In the low flat areas, where natural drainage does not keep the 
ground-water level 3 feet or more below the surface, it is essential 
that artificial drainage be provided, A depth to ground water 
greater than 3 feet should be attained if possible. 
MANURIAL REQUIREMENTS. 
The use of commercial fertilizers in sugar-cane growing is almost 
universal in the United States and in other cane-growing countries. 
As to the particular feritlizer elements required and the forms and 
proportions in which they are applied, the various localities differ 
widely. 
Some form of nitrogenous fertilizer can be applied with profit or 
is absolutely essential in practically all localities. The amount of 
nitrogen that is applied on the best-managed farms of the Southern 
